Act on climate or face isolation, COP 15
Release Date: 2009-03-10
The momentum that US President Barack Obama has brought to the international negotiations makes life hard on countries that oppose international agreement, says Britain's climate change secretary.
During a visit to Washington, Britain's Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, expressed optimism on the prospects of reaching a global deal at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen by December.
"There is a real important point about the change that Obama creates and that is that nobody really wants to be the country that wrecks this global deal," Miliband said according to The Guardian.
Some analysts claim that the Copenhagen conference is too soon for the new US administration to commit itself, but Ed Miliband does not agree:
"There is a real determination in the administration to try to meet the December 2009 deadline for an agreement and I think that is incredibly encouraging," he said, while advocating that having national US legislation in place is not necessary for the country to lead the negotiations:
"What is really important is that the US shows ambition to get a global deal and shows ambitions in its commitment. They are serious about this and they mean business."
The main purpose of Mr. Miliband's visit was to discuss cooperation between the two countries on carbon capture and storage (CCS). (Photo of Ed Miliband: Scanpix/Reuters)
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | COP 15 |
| Country: | Denmark |
| Url: | http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=841 |